lftp(1)lftp(1)NAMElftp - Sophisticated file transfer program
SYNTAXlftp [-d] [-e cmd] [-p port] [-u user[,pass]] [site]
lftp-f script_file
lftp-c commands
lftp--version
lftp--help
VERSION
This man page documents lftp version 3.7.7.
DESCRIPTIONlftp is a file transfer program that allows sophisticated ftp, http and
other connections to other hosts. If site is specified then lftp will
connect to that site otherwise a connection has to be established with
the open command.
lftp can handle several file access methods - ftp, ftps, http, https,
hftp, fish, sftp and file (https and ftps are only available when lftp
is compiled with GNU TLS or OpenSSL library). You can specify the
method to use in `open URL' command, e.g. `open http://www.us.ker‐
nel.org/pub/linux'. hftp is ftp-over-http-proxy protocol. It can be
used automatically instead of ftp if ftp:proxy is set to
`http://proxy[:port]'. Fish is a protocol working over an ssh connec‐
tion to a unix account. SFtp is a protocol implemented in ssh2 as sftp
subsystem.
Every operation in lftp is reliable, that is any not fatal error is
ignored and the operation is repeated. So if downloading breaks, it
will be restarted from the point automatically. Even if ftp server does
not support REST command, lftp will try to retrieve the file from the
very beginning until the file is transferred completely.
lftp has shell-like command syntax allowing you to launch several com‐
mands in parallel in background (&). It is also possible to group com‐
mands within () and execute them in background. All background jobs are
executed in the same single process. You can bring a foreground job to
background with ^Z (c-z) and back with command `wait' (or `fg' which is
alias to `wait'). To list running jobs, use command `jobs'. Some com‐
mands allow redirecting their output (cat, ls, ...) to file or via pipe
to external command. Commands can be executed conditionally based on
termination status of previous command (&&, ||).
If you exit lftp when some jobs are not finished yet, lftp will move
itself to nohup mode in background. The same happens when you have a
real modem hangup or when you close an xterm.
lftp has builtin mirror which can download or update a whole directory
tree. There is also reverse mirror (mirror -R) which uploads or updates
a directory tree on server. Mirror can also synchronize directories
between two remote servers, using FXP if available.
There is command `at' to launch a job at specified time in current con‐
text, command `queue' to queue commands for sequential execution for
current server, and much more.
On startup, lftp executes /etc/lftp.conf and then ~/.lftprc and
~/.lftp/rc. You can place aliases and `set' commands there. Some people
prefer to see full protocol debug, use `debug' to turn the debug on.
Use `debug 3' to see only greeting messages and error messages.
lftp has a number of settable variables. You can use `set -a' to see
all variables and their values or `set -d' to see list of defaults.
Variable names can be abbreviated and prefix can be omitted unless the
rest becomes ambiguous.
If lftp was compiled with OpenSSL (configure --with-openssl), then it
includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project for use in the
OpenSSL Toolkit. (http://www.openssl.org/)
Commands
! shell command
Launch shell or shell command.
!ls
To do a directory listing of the local host.
alias [name [value]]
Define or undefine alias name. If value is omitted, the alias is unde‐
fined, else it takes the value value. If no argument is given the cur‐
rent aliases are listed.
alias dir ls -lF
alias less zmore
anon
Sets the user to anonymous. This is the default.
at time [ -- command ]
Wait until the given time and execute given (optional) command. See
also at(1).
bookmark [subcommand]
The bookmark command controls bookmarks.
add <name> [<loc>] add current place or given location
to bookmarks and bind to given name
del <name> remove bookmark with name
edit start editor on bookmarks file
import <type> import foreign bookmarks
list list bookmarks (default)
cache [subcommand]
The cache command controls local memory cache. The following subcom‐
mands are recognized:
stat print cache status (default)
on|off turn on/off caching
flush flush cache
size lim set memory limit, -1 means unlimited
expire Nx set cache expiration time to N seconds (x=s)
minutes (x=m) hours (x=h) or days (x=d)
cat files
cat outputs the remote file(s) to stdout. (See also more, zcat and
zmore)
cd rdir
Change current remote directory. The previous remote directory is
stored as `-'. You can do `cd -' to change the directory back. The
previous directory for each site is also stored on disk, so you can do
`open site; cd -' even after lftp restart.
chmod mode files
Change permission mask on remote files. The mode must be an octal num‐
ber.
close [-a]
Close idle connections. By default only with the current server, use
-a to close all idle connections.
cls [OPTS] files...
`cls' tries to retrieve information about specified files or directo‐
ries and outputs the information according to format options. The dif‐
ference between `ls' and `cls' is that `ls' requests the server to for‐
mat file listing, and `cls' formats it itself, after retrieving all the
needed information. See `help cls' for options.
command cmd args...
execute given command ignoring aliases.
debug [-o file] level|off
Switch debugging to level or turn it off. Use -o to redirect the debug
output to a file.
echo [-n] string
guess what it does.
eval [-f format ] args...
without -f it just executes given arguments as a command. With -f,
arguments are transformed into a new command. The format can contain
plain text and placeholders $0...$9 and $@, corresponding to the argu‐
ments.
exit [bg] [top] [kill] [code]
exit will exit from lftp or move to background if there are active
jobs. If no job is active, code is passed to operating system as lftp's
termination status. If code is omitted, the exit code of last command
is used.
`exit bg' forces moving to background when cmd:move-background is
false. `exit top' makes top level `shell' (internal lftp command
executor) terminate. `exit kill' kills all numbered jobs before exit‐
ing. The options can be combined, e.g. `at 08:00 -- exit top kill &'
kills all jobs and makes lftp exit at specified time.
fg
Alias for `wait'.
find [directory]
List files in the directory (current directory by default) recursively.
This can help with servers lacking ls -R support. You can redirect out‐
put of this command.
ftpcopy
Obsolete. Use one of the following instead:
get ftp://... -o ftp://...
get -O ftp://... file1 file2...
put ftp://...
mput ftp://.../*
mget -O ftp://... ftp://.../*
or other combinations to get FXP transfer (directly between two ftp
servers). lftp would fallback to plain copy (via client) if FXP trans‐
fer cannot be initiated or ftp:use-fxp is false.
get [-E] [-a] [-c] [-O base] rfile [-o lfile] ...
Retrieve the remote file rfile and store it as the local file lfile.
If -o is omitted, the file is stored to local file named as base name
of rfile. You can get multiple files by specifying multiple instances
of rfile (and -o lfile). Does not expand wildcards, use mget for that.
-c continue, reget
-E delete source files after successful transfer
-a use ascii mode (binary is the default)
-O <base> specifies base directory or URL where files should be placed
Examples:
get README
get README -o debian.README
get README README.mirrors
get README -o debian.README README.mirrors -o debian.mirrors
get README -o ftp://some.host.org/debian.README
get README -o ftp://some.host.org/debian-dir/ (end slash is important)
get1 [OPTS] rfile
Transfer a single file. Options:
-o <lfile> destination file name (default - basename of rfile)
-c continue, reget
-E delete source files after successful transfer
-a use ascii mode (binary is the default)
--source-region=<from-to>
transfer specified region of source file
--target-position=<pos>
position in target file to write data at
glob [-d] [-a] [-f] command patterns
Glob given patterns containing metacharacters and pass result to given
command. E.g. ``glob echo *''.
-f plain files (default)
-d directories
-a all types
help [cmd]
Print help for cmd or if no cmd was specified print a list of available
commands.
jobs [-v]
List running jobs. -v means verbose, several -v can be specified.
kill all|job_no
Delete specified job with job_no or all jobs. (For job_no see jobs)
lcd ldir
Change current local directory ldir. The previous local directory is
stored as `-'. You can do `lcd -' to change the directory back.
lpwd
Print current working directory on local machine.
ls params
List remote files. You can redirect output of this command to file or
via pipe to external command. By default, ls output is cached, to see
new listing use rels or cache flush.
mget [-c] [-d] [-a] [-E] [-O base] files
Gets selected files with expanded wildcards.
-c continue, reget.
-d create directories the same as file names and get
the files into them instead of current directory.
-E delete source files after successful transfer
-a use ascii mode (binary is the default)
-O <base> specifies base directory or URL where files should be placed
mirror [OPTS] [source [target]]
Mirror specified source directory to local target directory. If target
directory ends with a slash, the source base name is appended to target
directory name. Source and/or target can be URLs pointing to directo‐
ries.
-c, --continue continue a mirror job if possible
-e, --delete delete files not present at remote site
--delete-first delete old files before transferring new ones
--depth-first descend into subdirectories before transferring files
-s, --allow-suid set suid/sgid bits according to remote site
--allow-chown try to set owner and group on files
--ascii use ascii mode transfers (implies --ignore-size)
--ignore-time ignore time when deciding whether to download
--ignore-size ignore size when deciding whether to download
--only-missing download only missing files
--only-existing download only files already existing at target
-n, --only-newer download only newer files (-c won't work)
--no-empty-dirs don't create empty directories (implies --depth-first)
-r, --no-recursion don't go to subdirectories
--no-symlinks don't create symbolic links
-p, --no-perms don't set file permissions
--no-umask don't apply umask to file modes
-R, --reverse reverse mirror (put files)
-L, --dereference download symbolic links as files
-N, --newer-than=SPEC download only files newer than specified time
--on-change=CMD execute the command if anything has been changed
--older-than=SPEC download only files older than specified time
--size-range=RANGE download only files with size in specified range
-P, --parallel[=N] download N files in parallel
--use-pget[-n=N] use pget to transfer every single file
--loop loop until no changes found
-i RX, --include RX include matching files
-x RX, --exclude RX exclude matching files
-I GP, --include-glob GP include matching files
-X GP, --exclude-glob GP exclude matching files
-v, --verbose[=level] verbose operation
--log=FILE write lftp commands being executed to FILE
--script=FILE write lftp commands to FILE, but don't execute them
--just-print, --dry-run same as --script=-
--use-cache use cached directory listings
--Remove-source-files remove files after transfer (use with caution)
-a same as --allow-chown --allow-suid --no-umask
When using -R, the first directory is local and the second is remote.
If the second directory is omitted, base name of first directory is
used. If both directories are omitted, current local and remote direc‐
tories are used. If target directory ends with a slash (except root
directory) then base name of source directory is appended.
RX is an extended regular expression, just like in egrep(1).
GP is a glob pattern, e.g. `*.zip'.
Include and exclude options can be specified multiple times. It means
that a file or directory would be mirrored if it matches an include and
does not match to excludes after the include, or does not match any‐
thing and the first check is exclude. Directories are matched with a
slash appended.
Note that symbolic links are not created when uploading to remote
server, because ftp protocol cannot do it. To upload files the links
refer to, use `mirror -RL' command (treat symbolic links as files).
For option --newer-than you can either specify a file or time specifi‐
cation like that used by at(1) command, e.g. `now-7days' or `week ago'.
If you specify a file, then modification time of that file will be
used.
Verbosity level can be selected using --verbose=level option or by sev‐
eral -v options, e.g. -vvv. Levels are:
0 - no output (default)
1 - print actions
2 - +print not deleted file names (when -e is not specified)
3 - +print directory names which are mirrored
--only-newer turns off file size comparison and uploads/downloads only
newer files even if size is different. By default older files are
transferred and replace newer ones.
You can mirror between two servers if you specify URLs instead of
directories. FXP is used automatically for transfers between ftp
servers, if possible.
Some ftp servers hide dot-files by default (e.g. .htaccess), and show
them only when LIST command is used with -a option. In such case try to
use `set ftp:list-options -a'.
mkdir [-p] dir(s)
Make remote directories. If -p is used, make all components of paths.
module module [ args ]
Load given module using dlopen(3) function. If module name does not
contain a slash, it is searched in directories specified by module:path
variable. Arguments are passed to module_init function. See
README.modules for technical details.
more files
Same as `cat files | more'. if PAGER is set, it is used as filter.
(See also cat, zcat and zmore)
mput [-c] [-d] [-a] [-E] [-O base] files
Upload files with wildcard expansion. By default it uses the base name
of local name as remote one. This can be changed by `-d' option.
-c continue, reput
-d create directories the same as in file names and put the
files into them instead of current directory
-E delete source files after successful transfer (dangerous)
-a use ascii mode (binary is the default)
-O <base> specifies base directory or URL where files should be placed
mrm file(s)
Same as `glob rm'. Removes specified file(s) with wildcard expansion.
mv file1 file2
Rename file1 to file2.
nlist [args]
List remote file names
open [-e cmd] [-u user[,pass]] [-p port] host|url
Select an ftp server.
pget [OPTS] rfile [-o lfile]
Gets the specified file using several connections. This can speed up
transfer, but loads the net and server heavily impacting other users.
Use only if you really have to transfer the file ASAP. Options:
-c continue transfer. Requires lfile.lftp-pget-status file.
-n maxconn set maximum number of connections (default is taken from pget:default-n setting)
put [-E] [-a] [-c] [-O base] lfile [-o rfile]
Upload lfile with remote name rfile. If -o omitted, the base name of
lfile is used as remote name. Does not expand wildcards, use mput for
that.
-o <rfile> specifies remote file name (default - basename of lfile)
-c continue, reput
it requires permission to overwrite remote files
-E delete source files after successful transfer (dangerous)
-a use ascii mode (binary is the default)
-O <base> specifies base directory or URL where files should be placed
pwd [-p]
Print current remote URL. Use `-p' option to show password in the URL.
queue [-n num ] cmd
Add the given command to queue for sequential execution. Each site has
its own queue. `-n' adds the command before the given item in the
queue. Don't try to queue `cd' or `lcd' commands, it may confuse lftp.
Instead do the cd/lcd before `queue' command, and it will remember the
place in which the command is to be done. It is possible to queue up an
already running job by `queue wait <jobno>', but the job will continue
execution even if it is not the first in queue.
`queue stop' will stop the queue, it will not execute any new commands,
but already running jobs will continue to run. You can use `queue stop'
to create an empty stopped queue. `queue start' will resume queue exe‐
cution. When you exit lftp, it will start all stopped queues automati‐
cally.
`queue' with no arguments will either create a stopped queue or print
queue status.
queue --delete|-d [index or wildcard expression]
Delete one or more items from the queue. If no argument is given, the
last entry in the queue is deleted.
queue --move|-m <index or wildcard expression> [index]
Move the given items before the given queue index, or to the end if no
destination is given.
-q Be quiet.
-v Be verbose.
-Q Output in a format that can be used to re-queue.
Useful with --delete.
> get file &
[1] get file
> queue wait 1
> queue get another_file
> cd a_directory
> queue get yet_another_file
queue -d 3 Delete the third item in the queue.
queue -m 6 4 Move the sixth item in the queue before the fourth.
queue -m "get*zip" 1 Move all commands matching "get*zip" to the beginning
of the queue. (The order of the items is preserved.)
queue -d "get*zip" Delete all commands matching "get*zip".
quote cmd
For FTP - send the command uninterpreted. Use with caution - it can
lead to unknown remote state and thus will cause reconnect. You cannot
be sure that any change of remote state because of quoted command is
solid - it can be reset by reconnect at any time.
For HTTP - specific to HTTP action. Syntax: ``quote <command>
[<args>]''. Command may be ``set-cookie'' or ``post''.
open http://www.site.net
quote set-cookie "variable=value; othervar=othervalue"
set http:post-content-type application/x-www-form-urlencoded
quote post /cgi-bin/script.cgi "var=value&othervar=othervalue" > local_file
For FISH - send the command uninterpreted. This can be used to execute
arbitrary commands on server. The command must not take input or print
### at new line beginning. If it does, the protocol will become out of
sync.
open fish://server
quote find -name \*.zip
reget rfile [-o lfile]
Same as `get -c'.
rels [args]
Same as `ls', but ignores the cache.
renlist [args]
Same as `nlist', but ignores the cache.
repeat [ -c <count>] [[-d] delay] [command]
Repeat the command. Between the commands a delay is inserted, by
default 1 second. Option `-c' limits number of repeations. Option
`--while-ok' breaks loop when command returns non-zero exit code;
`--until-ok' breaks on zero exit code.
Examples:
repeat at tomorrow -- mirror
repeat 1d mirror
reput lfile [-o rfile]
Same as `put -c'.
rm [-r] [-f] files
Remove remote files. Does not expand wildcards, use mrm for that. -r
is for recursive directory remove. Be careful, if something goes wrong
you can lose files. -f suppress error messages.
rmdir dir(s)
Remove remote directories.
scache [session]
List cached sessions or switch to specified session.
set [var [val]]
Set variable to given value. If the value is omitted, unset the vari‐
able. Variable name has format ``name/closure'', where closure can
specify exact application of the setting. See below for details. If
set is called with no variable then only altered settings are listed.
It can be changed by options:
-a list all settings, including default values
-d list only default values, not necessary current ones
site site_cmd
Execute site command site_cmd and output the result. You can redirect
its output.
sleep interval
Sleep given time interval and exit. Interval is in seconds by default,
but can be suffixed with 'm', 'h', 'd' for minutes, hours and days
respectively. See also at.
slot [name]
Select specified slot or list all slots allocated. A slot is a connec‐
tion to a server, somewhat like a virtual console. You can create mul‐
tiple slots connected to different servers and switch between them. You
can also use slot:name as a pseudo-URL evaluating to that slot loca‐
tion.
Default readline binding allows quick switching between slots named 0-9
using Meta-0 - Meta-9 keys (often you can use Alt instead of Meta).
source file
source -e command
Execute commands recorded in file file or returned by specified exter‐
nal command.
source ~/.lftp/rc
source -e echo help
suspend
Stop lftp process. Note that transfers will be also stopped until you
continue the process with shell's fg or bg commands.
user user [pass]
user URL [pass]
Use specified info for remote login. If you specify an URL with user
name, the entered password will be cached so that future URL references
can use it.
version
Print lftp version.
wait [jobno]
wait all
Wait for specified job to terminate. If jobno is omitted, wait for last
backgrounded job.
`wait all' waits for all jobs termination.
zcat files
Same as cat, but filter each file through zcat. (See also cat, more and
zmore)
zmore files
Same as more, but filter each file through zcat. (See also cat, zcat
and more)
Settings
On startup, lftp executes ~/.lftprc and ~/.lftp/rc. You can place
aliases and `set' commands there. Some people prefer to see full proto‐
col debug, use `debug' to turn the debug on.
There is also a system-wide startup file in /etc/lftp.conf. It can be
in different directory, see FILES section.
lftp has the following settable variables (you can also use `set -a' to
see all variables and their values):
bmk:save-passwords (boolean)
save plain text passwords in ~/.lftp/bookmarks on `bookmark add'
command. Off by default.
cmd:at-exit (string)
the commands in string are executed before lftp exits.
cmd:csh-history (boolean)
enables csh-like history expansion.
cmd:default-protocol (string)
The value is used when `open' is used with just host name with‐
out protocol. Default is `ftp'.
cmd:fail-exit (boolean)
if true, exit when an unconditional (without || and && at begin)
command fails.
cmd:long-running (seconds)
time of command execution, which is considered as `long' and a
beep is done before next prompt. 0 means off.
cmd:ls-default (string)
default ls argument
cmd:move-background (boolean)
when false, lftp refuses to go to background when exiting. To
force it, use `exit bg'.
cmd:move-background-detach (boolean)
when true (default), lftp detaches itself from the control ter‐
minal when moving to background, it is not possible to attach
back; when false, lftp tricks the shell to move lftp to back‐
ground process group and continues to run, then fg shell command
brings lftp back to foreground unless it has done all jobs and
terminated.
cmd:prompt (string)
The prompt. lftp recognizes the following backslash-escaped spe‐
cial characters that are decoded as follows:
\@ insert @ if current user is not default
\a an ASCII bell character (07)
\e an ASCII escape character (033)
\h the hostname you are connected to
\n newline
\s the name of the client (lftp)
\S current slot name
\u the username of the user you are logged in as
\U the URL of the remote site (e.g.,
ftp://g437.ub.gu.se/home/james/src/lftp)
\v the version of lftp (e.g., 2.0.3)
\w the current working directory at the remote site
\W the base name of the current working directory at the
remote site
\nnn the character corresponding to the octal number nnn
\\ a backslash
\? skips next character if previous substitution was empty.
\[ begin a sequence of non-printing characters, which could
be used to embed a terminal control sequence into the
prompt
\] end a sequence of non-printing characters
cmd:parallel (number)
Number of jobs run in parallel in non-interactive mode. For
example, this may be useful for scripts with multiple `get' com‐
mands. Note that setting this to a value greater than 1 changes
conditional execution behaviour, basically makes it inconsis‐
tent.
cmd:queue-parallel (number)
Number of jobs run in parallel in a queue.
cmd:time-style (string)
This setting is the default value for cls --time-style option.
cmd:trace (boolean)
when true, lftp prints the commands it executes (like sh -x).
cache:cache-empty-listings (boolean)
When false, empty listings are not cached.
cache:enable (boolean)
When false, cache is disabled.
cache:expire (time interval)
Positive cache entries expire in this time interval.
cache:expire-negative (time interval)
Negative cache entries expire in this time interval.
cache:size (number)
Maximum cache size. When exceeded, oldest cache entries will be
removed from cache.
cmd:remote-completion (boolean)
a boolean to control whether or not lftp uses remote completion.
cmd:verify-host (boolean)
if true, lftp resolves host name immediately in `open' command.
It is also possible to skip the check for a single `open' com‐
mand if `&' is given, or if ^Z is pressed during the check.
cmd:verify-path (boolean)
if true, lftp checks the path given in `cd' command. It is also
possible to skip the check for a single `cd' command if `&' is
given, or if ^Z is pressed during the check. Examples:
set cmd:verify-path/hftp://* false
cd directory &
cmd:verify-path-cached (boolean)
When false, `cd' to a directory known from cache as existent
will succeed immediately. Otherwise the verification will
depend on cmd:verify-path setting.
dns:SRV-query (boolean)
query for SRV records and use them before gethostbyname. The SRV
records are only used if port is not explicitly specified. See
RFC2052 for details.
dns:cache-enable (boolean)
enable DNS cache. If it is off, lftp resolves host name each
time it reconnects.
dns:cache-expire (time interval)
time to live for DNS cache entries. It has format <num‐
ber><unit>+, e.g. 1d12h30m5s or just 36h. To disable expira‐
tion, set it to `inf' or `never'.
dns:cache-size (number)
maximum number of DNS cache entries.
dns:fatal-timeout (time interval)
limit the time for DNS queries. If DNS server is unavailable too
long, lftp will fail to resolve a given host name. Set to
`never' to disable.
dns:order (list of protocol names)
sets the order of DNS queries. Default is ``inet6 inet'' which
means first look up address in inet6 family, then inet and use
them in that order. To disable inet6 (AAAA) lookup, set this
variable to ``inet''.
dns:use-fork (boolean)
if true, lftp will fork before resolving host address. Default
is true.
dns:max-retries (number)
If zero, there is no limit on the number of times lftp will try
to lookup an address. If > 0, lftp will try only this number of
times to look up an address of each address family in dns:order.
file:charset (string)
local character set. It is set from current locale initially.
fish:charset (string)
the character set used by fish server in requests, replies and
file listings. Default is empty which means the same as local.
fish:connect-program (string)
the program to use for connecting to remote server. It should
support `-l' option for user name, `-p' for port number. Default
is `ssh -a -x'. You can set it to `rsh', for example.
fish:shell (string)
use specified shell on server side. Default is /bin/sh. On some
systems, /bin/sh exits when doing cd to a non-existent direc‐
tory. lftp can handle that but it has to reconnect. Set it to
/bin/bash for such systems if bash is installed.
ftp:acct (string)
Send this string in ACCT command after login. The result is
ignored. The closure for this setting has format user@host.
ftp:anon-pass (string)
sets the password used for anonymous ftp access authentication.
Default is "-name@", where name is the username of the user run‐
ning the program.
ftp:anon-user (string)
sets the user name used for anonymous ftp access authentication.
Default is "anonymous".
ftp:auto-sync-mode (regex)
if first server message matches this regex, turn on sync mode
for that host.
ftp:charset (string)
the character set used by ftp server in requests, replies and
file listings. Default is empty which means the same as local.
This setting is only used when the server does not support UTF8.
ftp:client (string)
the name of ftp client to send with CLNT command, if supported
by server. If it is empty, then no CLNT command will be sent.
ftp:bind-data-socket (boolean)
bind data socket to the interface of control connection (in pas‐
sive mode). Default is true, exception is the loopback inter‐
face.
ftp:fix-pasv-address (boolean)
if true, lftp will try to correct address returned by server for
PASV command in case when server address is in public network
and PASV returns an address from a private network. In this case
lftp would substitute server address instead of the one returned
by PASV command, port number would not be changed. Default is
true.
ftp:fxp-passive-source (boolean)
if true, lftp will try to set up source ftp server in passive
mode first, otherwise destination one. If first attempt fails,
lftp tries to set them up the other way. If the other disposi‐
tion fails too, lftp falls back to plain copy. See also ftp:use-
fxp.
ftp:home (string)
Initial directory. Default is empty string which means auto. Set
this to `/' if you don't like the look of %2F in ftp URLs. The
closure for this setting has format user@host.
ftp:ignore-pasv-address (boolean)
If true, lftp uses control connection address instead of the one
returned in PASV reply for data connection. This can be useful
for broken NATs. Default is false.
ftp:list-empty-ok (boolean)
if set to false, empty lists from LIST command will be treated
as incorrect, and another method (NLST) will be used.
ftp:list-options (string)
sets options which are always appended to LIST command. It can
be useful to set this to `-a' if server does not show dot (hid‐
den) files by default. Default is empty.
ftp:nop-interval (seconds)
delay between NOOP commands when downloading tail of a file.
This is useful for ftp servers which send "Transfer complete"
message before flushing data transfer. In such cases NOOP com‐
mands can prevent connection timeout.
ftp:passive-mode (boolean)
sets passive ftp mode. This can be useful if you are behind a
firewall or a dumb masquerading router. In passive mode lftp
uses PASV command, not the PORT command which is used in active
mode. In passive mode lftp itself makes the data connection to
the server; in active mode the server connects to lftp for data
transfer. Passive mode is the default.
ftp:port-ipv4 (ipv4 address)
specifies an IPv4 address to send with PORT command. Default is
empty which means to send the address of local end of control
connection.
ftp:port-range (from-to)
allowed port range for active mode. Format is min-max, or
`full' or `any' to indicate any port. Default is `full'.
ftp:proxy (URL)
specifies ftp proxy to use. To disable proxy set this to empty
string. Note that it is an ftp proxy which uses ftp protocol,
not ftp over http. Default value is taken from environment vari‐
able ftp_proxy if it starts with ``ftp://''. If your ftp proxy
requires authentication, specify user name and password in the
URL. If ftp:proxy starts with http:// then hftp protocol (ftp
over http proxy) is used instead of ftp automatically.
ftp:proxy-auth-type (string)
When set to ``joined'', lftp sends ``user@proxy_user@ftp.exam‐
ple.org'' as user name to proxy, and ``password@proxy_password''
as password.
When set to ``joined-acct'', lftp sends ``user@ftp.example.org
proxy_user'' (with space) as user name to proxy. The site pass‐
word is sent as usual and the proxy password is expected in the
following ACCT command.
When set to ``open'', lftp first sends proxy user and proxy
password and then ``OPEN ftp.example.org'' followed by ``USER
user''. The site password is then sent as usual.
When set to ``user'' (default), lftp first sends proxy user and
proxy password and then ``user@ftp.example.org'' as user name.
The site password is then sent as usual.
When set to ``proxy-user@host'', lftp first sends ``USER
proxy_user@ftp.example.org'', then proxy password. The site user
and password are then sent as usual.
ftp:rest-list (boolean)
allow usage of REST command before LIST command. This might be
useful for large directories, but some ftp servers silently
ignore REST before LIST.
ftp:rest-stor (boolean)
if false, lftp will not try to use REST before STOR. This can be
useful for some buggy servers which corrupt (fill with zeros)
the file if REST followed by STOR is used.
ftp:retry-530 (regex)
Retry on server reply 530 for PASS command if text matches this
regular expression. This setting should be useful to distin‐
guish between overloaded server (temporary condition) and incor‐
rect password (permanent condition).
ftp:retry-530-anonymous (regex)
Additional regular expression for anonymous login, like
ftp:retry-530.
ftp:site-group (string)
Send this string in SITE GROUP command after login. The result
is ignored. The closure for this setting has format user@host.
ftp:skey-allow (boolean)
allow sending skey/opie reply if server appears to support it.
On by default.
ftp:skey-force (boolean)
do not send plain text password over the network, use skey/opie
instead. If skey/opie is not available, assume failed login. Off
by default.
ftp:ssl-allow (boolean)
if true, try to negotiate SSL connection with ftp server for
non-anonymous access. Default is true. This and other ssl set‐
tings are only available if lftp was compiled with an ssl/tls
library.
ftp:ssl-data-use-keys (boolean)
if true, lftp loads ssl:key-file for protected data connection
too. When false, it does not, and the server can match data and
control connections by session ID. Default is true.
ftp:ssl-force (boolean)
if true, refuse to send password in clear when server does not
support SSL. Default is false.
ftp:ssl-protect-data (boolean)
if true, request ssl connection for data transfers. This is cpu-
intensive but provides privacy. Default is false.
ftp:ssl-protect-fxp (boolean)
if true, request ssl connection for data transfer between two
ftp servers in FXP mode. CPSV or SSCN command will be used in
that case. If ssl connection fails for some reason, lftp would
try unprotected FXP transfer unless ftp:ssl-force is set for any
of the two servers. Default is false.
ftp:ssl-protect-list (boolean)
if true, request ssl connection for file list transfers. Default
is true.
ftp:ssl-use-ccc (boolean)
if true, lftp would issue CCC command after logon, thus disable
ssl protection layer on control connection.
ftp:stat-interval (time interval)
interval between STAT commands. Default is 1 second.
ftp:sync-mode (boolean)
if true, lftp will send one command at a time and wait for
response. This might be useful if you are using a buggy ftp
server or router. When it is off, lftp sends a pack of commands
and waits for responses - it speeds up operation when round trip
time is significant. Unfortunately it does not work with all
ftp servers and some routers have troubles with it, so it is on
by default.
ftp:timezone (string)
Assume this timezone for time in listings returned by LIST com‐
mand. This setting can be GMT offset [+|-]HH[:MM[:SS]] or any
valid TZ value (e.g. Europe/Moscow or
MSK-3MSD,M3.5.0,M10.5.0/3). The default is GMT. Set it to an
empty value to assume local timezone specified by environment
variable TZ.
ftp:trust-feat (string)
When true, assume that FEAT returned data are correct and don't
use common protocol extensions like SIZE, MDTM, REST if they are
not listed. Default is false.
ftp:use-abor (boolean)
if false, lftp does not send ABOR command but closes data con‐
nection immediately.
ftp:use-allo (boolean)
when true (default), lftp sends ALLO command before uploading a
file.
ftp:use-feat (boolean)
when true (default), lftp uses FEAT command to determine
extended features of ftp server.
ftp:use-fxp (boolean)
if true, lftp will try to set up direct connection between two
ftp servers.
ftp:use-hftp (boolean)
when ftp:proxy points to an http proxy, this setting selects
hftp method (GET, HEAD) when true, and CONNECT method when
false. Default is true.
ftp:lang (boolean)
the language selected with LANG command, if supported as indi‐
cated by FEAT response. Default is empty which means server
default.
ftp:use-mdtm (boolean)
when true (default), lftp uses MDTM command to determine file
modification time.
ftp:use-mdtm-overloaded (boolean)
when true, lftp uses two argument MDTM command to set file modi‐
fication time on uploaded files. Default is false.
ftp:use-site-idle (boolean)
when true, lftp sends `SITE IDLE' command with net:idle argu‐
ment. Default is false.
ftp:use-site-utime (boolean)
when true, lftp sends 5-argument `SITE UTIME' command to set
file modification time on uploaded files. Default is true.
ftp:use-site-utime2 (boolean)
when true, lftp sends 2-argument `SITE UTIME' command to set
file modification time on uploaded files. Default is true. If
5-argument `SITE UTIME' is also enabled, 2-argument command is
tried first.
ftp:use-size (boolean)
when true (default), lftp uses SIZE command to determine file
size.
ftp:use-stat (boolean)
if true, lftp sends STAT command in FXP mode transfer to know
how much data has been transferred. See also ftp:stat-interval.
Default is true.
ftp:use-stat-for-list (boolean)
when true, lftp uses STAT instead of LIST command. By default
`.' is used as STAT argument. Using STAT, lftp avoids creating
data connection for directory listing. Some servers require spe‐
cial options for STAT, use ftp:list-options to specify them
(e.g. -la).
ftp:use-telnet-iac (boolean)
when true (default), lftp uses TELNET IAC command and follows
TELNET protocol as specified in RFC959. When false, it does not
follow TELNET protocol and thus does not double 255 (0xFF, 0377)
character and does not prefix ABOR and STAT commands with TELNET
IP+SYNCH signal.
ftp:use-quit (boolean)
if true, lftp sends QUIT before disconnecting from ftp server.
Default is true.
ftp:verify-address (boolean)
verify that data connection comes from the network address of
control connection peer. This can possibly prevent data connec‐
tion spoofing which can lead to data corruption. Unfortunately,
this can fail for certain ftp servers with several network
interfaces, when they do not set outgoing address on data
socket, so it is disabled by default.
ftp:verify-port (boolean)
verify that data connection has port 20 (ftp-data) on its remote
end. This can possibly prevent data connection spoofing by
users of remote host. Unfortunately, too many windows and even
unix ftp servers forget to set proper port on data connection,
thus this check is off by default.
ftp:web-mode (boolean)
disconnect after closing data connection. This can be useful for
totally broken ftp servers. Default is false.
ftps:initial-prot (string)
specifies initial PROT setting for FTPS connections. Should be
one of: C, S, E, P, or empty. Default is empty which means
unknown, so that lftp will use PROT command unconditionally. If
PROT command turns out to be unsupported, then Clear mode would
be assumed.
hftp:cache (boolean)
allow server/proxy side caching for ftp-over-http protocol.
hftp:cache-control (string)
specify corresponding HTTP request header.
hftp:proxy (URL)
specifies http proxy for ftp-over-http protocol (hftp). The pro‐
tocol hftp cannot work without a http proxy, obviously. Default
value is taken from environment variable ftp_proxy if it starts
with ``http://'', otherwise from environment variable
http_proxy. If your ftp proxy requires authentication, specify
user name and password in the URL.
hftp:use-authorization (boolean)
if set to off, lftp will send password as part of URL to the
proxy. This may be required for some proxies (e.g. M-soft).
Default is on, and lftp will send password as part of Authoriza‐
tion header.
hftp:use-head (boolean)
if set to off, lftp will try to use `GET' instead of `HEAD' for
hftp protocol. While this is slower, it may allow lftp to work
with some proxies which don't understand or mishandle ``HEAD
ftp://'' requests.
hftp:use-mkcol (boolean)
if set to off, lftp will try to use `PUT' instead of `MKCOL' to
create directories with hftp protocol. Default is off.
hftp:use-propfind (boolean)
if set to off, lftp will not try to use `PROPFIND' to get direc‐
tory contents with hftp protocol and use `GET' instead. Default
is off.
hftp:use-type (boolean)
If set to off, lftp won't try to append `;type=' to URLs passed
to proxy. Some broken proxies don't handle it correctly.
Default is on.
http:accept, http:accept-charset, http:accept-language (string)
specify corresponding HTTP request headers.
http:authorization (string)
the authorization to use by default, when no user is specified.
The format is ``user:password''. Default is empty which means no
authorization.
http:cache (boolean)
allow server/proxy side caching.
http:cache-control (string)
specify corresponding HTTP request header.
http:cookie (string)
send this cookie to server. A closure is useful here:
set cookie/www.somehost.com "param=value"
http:post-content-type (string)
specifies value of Content-Type http request header for POST
method. Default is ``application/x-www-form-urlencoded''.
http:proxy (URL)
specifies http proxy. It is used when lftp works over http pro‐
tocol. Default value is taken from environment variable
http_proxy. If your proxy requires authentication, specify user
name and password in the URL.
http:put-method (PUT or POST)
specifies which http method to use on put.
http:put-content-type (string)
specifies value of Content-Type http request header for PUT
method.
http:referer (string)
specifies value for Referer http request header. Single dot `.'
expands to current directory URL. Default is `.'. Set to empty
string to disable Referer header.
http:set-cookies (boolean)
if true, lftp modifies http:cookie variables when Set-Cookie
header is received.
http:use-mkcol (boolean)
if set to off, lftp will try to use `PUT' instead of `MKCOL' to
create directories with http protocol. Default is on.
http:use-propfind (boolean)
if set to off, lftp will not try to use `PROPFIND' to get direc‐
tory contents with http protocol and use `GET' instead. Default
is on.
http:user-agent (string)
the string lftp sends in User-Agent header of HTTP request.
https:proxy (string)
specifies https proxy. Default value is taken from environment
variable https_proxy.
mirror:dereference (boolean)
when true, mirror will dereference symbolic links by default.
You can override it by --no-dereference option. Default if
false.
mirror:exclude-regex (regex)
specifies default exclusion pattern. You can override it by
--include option.
mirror:include-regex (regex)
specifies default inclusion pattern. It is used just after mir‐
ror:exclude-regex is applied. It is never used if mir‐
ror:exclude-regex is empty.
mirror:order (list of patterns)
specifies order of file transfers. E.g. setting this to "*.sfv
*.sum" makes mirror to transfer files matching *.sfv first, then
ones matching *.sum and then all other files. To process direc‐
tories after other files, add "*/" to end of pattern list.
mirror:parallel-directories (boolean)
if true, mirror will start processing of several directories in
parallel when it is in parallel mode. Otherwise, it will trans‐
fer files from a single directory before moving to other direc‐
tories.
mirror:parallel-transfer-count (number)
specifies number of parallel transfers mirror is allowed to
start. Default is 1. You can override it with --parallel
option.
mirror:set-permissions (boolean)
When set to off, mirror won't try to copy file and directory
permissions. You can override it by --perms option. Default is
on.
mirror:use-pget-n (number)
specifies -n option for pget command used to transfer every sin‐
gle file under mirror. Default is 1 which disables pget.
module:path (string)
colon separated list of directories to look for modules. Can be
initialized by environment variable LFTP_MODULE_PATH. Default is
`PKGLIBDIR/VERSION:PKGLIBDIR'.
net:connection-limit (number)
maximum number of concurrent connections to the same site. 0
means unlimited.
net:connection-takeover (boolean)
if true, foreground connections have priority over background
ones and can interrupt background transfers to complete a fore‐
ground operation.
net:idle (time interval)
disconnect from server after this idle time. Default is 3 min‐
utes.
net:limit-rate (bytes per second)
limit transfer rate on data connection. 0 means unlimited. You
can specify two numbers separated by colon to limit download and
upload rate separately.
net:limit-max (bytes)
limit accumulating of unused limit-rate. 0 means unlimited.
net:limit-total-rate (bytes per second)
limit transfer rate of all connections in sum. 0 means unlim‐
ited. You can specify two numbers separated by colon to limit
download and upload rate separately. Note that sockets have
receive buffers on them, this can lead to network link load
higher than this rate limit just after transfer beginning. You
can try to set net:socket-buffer to relatively small value to
avoid this.
net:limit-total-max (bytes)
limit accumulating of unused limit-total-rate. 0 means unlim‐
ited.
net:max-retries (number)
the maximum number of sequential retries of an operation without
success. 0 means unlimited.
net:no-proxy (string)
contains comma separated list of domains for which proxy should
not be used. Default is taken from environment variable
no_proxy.
net:persist-retries (number)
ignore this number of hard errors. Useful to login to buggy ftp
servers which reply 5xx when there is too many users.
net:reconnect-interval-base (seconds)
sets the base minimal time between reconnects. Actual interval
depends on net:reconnect-interval-multiplier and number of
attempts to perform an operation.
net:reconnect-interval-max (seconds)
sets maximum reconnect interval. When current interval after
multiplication by net:reconnect-interval-multiplier reachs this
value (or exceeds it), it is reset back to net:reconnect-inter‐
val-base.
net:reconnect-interval-multiplier (real number)
sets multiplier by which base interval is multiplied each time
new attempt to perform an operation fails. When the interval
reachs maximum, it is reset to base value. See net:reconnect-
interval-base and net:reconnect-interval-max.
net:socket-bind-ipv4 (ipv4 address)
bind all IPv4 sockets to specified address. This can be useful
to select a specific network interface to use. Default is empty
which means not to bind IPv4 sockets, operating system will
choose an address automatically using routing table.
net:socket-bind-ipv6 (ipv6 address)
the same for IPv6 sockets.
net:socket-buffer (bytes)
use given size for SO_SNDBUF and SO_RCVBUF socket options. 0
means system default.
net:socket-maxseg (bytes)
use given size for TCP_MAXSEG socket option. Not all operating
systems support this option, but linux does.
net:timeout (time interval)
sets the network protocol timeout.
pget:default-n (number)
default number of chunks to split the file to in pget.
pget:save-status (time interval)
save pget transfer status this often. Set to `never' to disable
saving of the status file. The status is saved to a file with
suffix .lftp-pget-status.
sftp:charset (string)
the character set used by sftp server in file names and file
listings. Default is empty which means the same as local. This
setting is only used for sftp protocol version prior to 4. Ver‐
sion 4 and later always use UTF-8.
sftp:connect-program (string)
the program to use for connecting to remote server. It should
support `-l' option for user name, `-p' for port number. Default
is `ssh -a -x'. You can set it to `rsh', for example.
sftp:max-packets-in-flight (number)
The maximum number of unreplied packets in flight. If round trip
time is significant, you should increase this and size-
read/size-write. Default is 16.
sftp:protocol-version (number)
The protocol number to negotiate. Default is 4. The actual pro‐
tocol version used depends on server.
sftp:server-program (string)
The server program implementing SFTP protocol. If it does not
contain a slash `/', it is considered a ssh2 subsystem and -s
option is used when starting connect-program. Default is
`sftp'. You can use rsh as transport level protocol like this:
set sftp:connect-program rsh
set sftp:server-program /usr/libexec/openssh/sftp-server
Similarly you can run sftp over ssh1.
sftp:size-read (number)
Block size for reading. Default is 0x8000.
sftp:size-write (number)
Block size for writing. Default is 0x8000.
ssl:ca-file (path to file)
use specified file as Certificate Authority certificate.
ssl:ca-path (path to directory)
use specified directory as Certificate Authority certificate
repository (OpenSSL only).
ssl:check-hostname (boolean)
when true, lftp checks if the host name used to connect to the
server corresponds to the host name in its certificate.
ssl:crl-file (path to file)
use specified file as Certificate Revocation List certificate.
ssl:crl-path (path to directory)
use specified directory as Certificate Revocation List certifi‐
cate repository (OpenSSL only).
ssl:key-file (path to file)
use specified file as your private key.
ssl:cert-file (path to file)
use specified file as your certificate.
ssl:verify-certificate (boolean)
if set to yes, then verify server's certificate to be signed by
a known Certificate Authority and not be on Certificate Revoca‐
tion List.
xfer:auto-rename (boolean)
Suggested filenames provided by the server are used if user
explicitly sets this option to 'on'. As this could be security
risk, default is off.
xfer:clobber (boolean)
if this setting is off, get commands will not overwrite existing
files and generate an error instead. Default is off.
xfer:destination-directory (path or URL to directory)
This setting is used as default -O option for get and mget com‐
mands. Default is empty, which means current directory (no -O
option).
xfer:full-disk-fatal (boolean)
when true, lftp aborts a thansfer if it cannot write target file
because of full disk or quota; when false, lftp waits for disk
space to be freed.
xfer:eta-period (seconds)
the period over which weighted average rate is calculated to
produce ETA.
xfer:eta-terse (boolean)
show terse ETA (only high order parts). Default is true.
xfer:log (boolean)
when true, lftp logs transfers to ~/.lftp/transfer_log.
xfer:max-redirections (number)
maximum number of redirections. This can be useful for download‐
ing over HTTP. 0 prohibits redirections.
xfer:rate-period (seconds)
the period over which weighted average rate is calculated to be
shown.
The name of a variable can be abbreviated unless it becomes ambiguous.
The prefix before `:' can be omitted too. You can set one variable sev‐
eral times for different closures, and thus you can get a particular
settings for particular state. The closure is to be specified after
variable name separated with slash `/'.
The closure for `dns:', `net:', `ftp:', `http:', `hftp:' domain vari‐
ables is currently just the host name as you specify it in the `open'
command (with some exceptions where closure is meaningless, e.g.
dns:cache-size). For some `cmd:' domain variables the closure is cur‐
rent URL without path. For other variables it is not currently used.
See examples in the sample lftp.conf.
Certain commands and settings take a time interval parameter. It has
the format Nx[Nx...], where N is time amount (floating point) and x is
time unit: d - days, h - hours, m - minutes, s - seconds. Default unit
is second. E.g. 5h30m or 5.5h. Also the interval can be `infinity',
`inf', `never', `forever' - it means infinite interval. E.g. `sleep
forever' or `set dns:cache-expire never'.
Boolean settings can be one of (true, on, yes, 1, +) for a True value
or one of (false, off, no, 0, -) for a False value.
Integer settings can have a suffix: k - kibi, m - mebi, g - gigi, etc.
They can also have a prefix: 0 - octal, 0x - hexadecimal.
FTP asynchronous mode (pipelining)
Lftp can speed up ftp operations by sending several commands at once
and then checking all the responses. See ftp:sync-mode variable. Some‐
times this does not work, thus synchronous mode is the default. You can
try to turn synchronous mode off and see if it works for you. It is
known that some network software dealing with address translation works
incorrectly in the case of several FTP commands in one network packet.
RFC959 says: ``The user-process sending another command before the com‐
pletion reply would be in violation of protocol; but server-FTP pro‐
cesses should queue any commands that arrive while a preceding command
is in progress''. Also, RFC1123 says: ``Implementors MUST NOT assume
any correspondence between READ boundaries on the control connection
and the Telnet EOL sequences (CR LF).'' and ``a single READ from the
control connection may include more than one FTP command''.
So it must be safe to send several commands at once, which speeds up
operation a lot and seems to work with all Unix and VMS based ftp
servers. Unfortunately, windows based servers often cannot handle sev‐
eral commands in one packet, and so cannot some broken routers.
OPTIONS-d Switch on debugging mode
-e commands
Execute given commands and don't exit.
-p port
Use the given port to connect
-u user[,pass]
Use the given username and password to connect
-f script_file
Execute commands in the file and exit
-c commands
Execute the given commands and exit
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following environment variables are processed by lftp:
HOME Used for (local) tilde (`~') expansion
SHELL Used by the ! command to determine the shell to run.
PAGER This should be the name of the pager to use. It's used by the
more and zmore commands.
http_proxy, https_proxy
Used to set initial http:proxy, hftp:proxy and https:proxy vari‐
ables.
ftp_proxy
Used to set initial ftp:proxy or hftp:proxy variables, depending
on URL protocol used in this environment variable.
no_proxy
Used to set initial net:no-proxy variable.
LFTP_MODULE_PATH
Used to set initial module:path variable.
LFTP_HOME
Used to locate the directory that stores user-specific configu‐
ration files. If unset, ~/.lftp will be used.
FILES
/etc/lftp.conf
system-wide startup file. Actual location depends on
--sysconfdir configure option. It is /etc when prefix is /usr,
/usr/local/etc by default.
~/.lftp/rc, ~/.lftprc
These files are executed on lftp startup after /etc/lftp.conf.
~/.lftp/log
The file things are logged to when lftp moves into the back‐
ground in nohup mode.
~/.lftp/transfer_log
The file transfers are logged to when xfer:log setting is set to
`yes'.
~/.lftp/bookmarks
The file is used to store lftp's bookmarks. See the bookmark
command.
~/.lftp/cwd_history
The file is used to store last working directories for each site
visited.
~/.netrc
The file is consulted to get default login and password to ftp
server. Passwords are also searched here if an URL with user
name but with no password is used.
SEE ALSOftpd(8), ftp(1)
RFC854 (telnet), RFC959 (ftp), RFC1123, RFC1945 (http/1.0), RFC2052
(SRV RR), RFC2228 (ftp security extensions), RFC2389 (ftp FEAT),
RFC2428 (ftp/ipv6), RFC2518 (WebDAV), RFC2616 (http/1.1), RFC2617
(http/1.1 authentication), RFC2640 (ftp i18n), RFC4217 (ftp over ssl).
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-ftpext-mlst-16.txt (ftp
extensions over RFC959),
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-secsh-filexfer-10.txt
(sftp).
AUTHOR
Alexander V. Lukyanov
lav@yars.free.net
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This manual page was originally written by Christoph Lameter <clame‐
ter@debian.org>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system. The page was improved
and updated later by Nicolas Lichtmaier <nick@Feedback.com.ar>, James
Troup <J.J.Troup@comp.brad.ac.uk> and Alexander V. Lukyanov
<lav@yars.free.net>.
12 Dec 2008 lftp(1)
